76% of those who say they're sick 'can work': Tests weed out most seeking incapacity benefit

Chris Grayling said the majority of people who are applying for incapacity benefit are being found fit for work or have stopped their claim

Three-quarters of those claiming to be too sick to work are fit and able to look for a job, figures reveal.

A majority of would-be incapacity benefit claimants undergoing new tests are being rejected or are abandoning their claims.

That suggests that millions of existing claimants - who are all to be re-tested under Government plans - are f it for employment.

Some are claiming to be unfit because of headaches, indigestion and even blisters.

More than £5million of a total £12.5billion in handouts last year went to 1,060 people who declared they were too fat to go to work.

Minister for employment Chris Grayling said: 'The vast majority of people who are applying for these benefits are being found fit for work or have stopped their claim.

'These are people who under the old system would have been abandoned on incapacity benefits. It's a clear indication of why reform is so urgently needed.

'This is exactly why we are going to reassess everyone claiming incapacity benefits for their ability to work, from this October.

'They will now be given the support they need to get back to work and will be expected to look for work if they are able to do so.'

The latest statistics for Employment and Support Allowance - a new name for incapacity benefit introduced by the Labour government - showed that between October 2008 and November 2009, 39 per cent of claimants were found to be fit for work and 37 per cent closed their case before the assessment was complete.

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Just 6 per cent qualified for the benefit and were not required to undertake work-related activities, though they can volunteer to do so if they want.

Another 14 per cent were placed into a 'work-related activity group' - meaning they receive the benefit but are required to stick to strict work-related conditions, including five work interviews, in order to continue receiving it. For the remaining 4 per cent, the assessment is still in progress.

Chancellor George Osborne is aiming to speed up plans to slash the welfare bill, which has ballooned by almost 50 per cent under Labour to £192 billion.

The Government is now testing 10,000 incapacity benefit claimants a week in a bid to weed out those who are cheating the taxpayer.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has said he aims to get 1.5million incapacity benefit claimants into work or on to out-of-work schemes.

The Chancellor says that as Britain starts to pay off a £149billion budget deficit, it faces a choice between 25 per cent spending cuts in most departments or deeper reductions in the welfare bill.

Figures released under freedom of information laws show that £10million was paid out last year to people who said they could not work because they suffer from headaches.

Some 530 claimed for indigestion, pocketing £2.9million in handouts, while ten got benefits for blisters.